And Then There Were Ed
by numbuh0051
Summary: Being separated from his friends are the least of Double-D's problems as the summer he's spending at a school slowly turns into pure terror.
1. The Letter

"Dear Mother and Father"

The letters would always begin that way, just that way. Following would be something like, "I understand how much you want me to continue attending for the remainder of the summer" or "Understanding our agreement that I would go to this particular establishment…". And then, the letter would be folded up neatly and placed in the trash.

Eddward was sitting at a desk in the room he had been living in for over a month now. The sun was creating a peaceful glow upon his packed suitcases that were sitting upon his bed. The garden outside the house was growing abundantly, thanks to the heat brought upon by the summer.

Despite this, the boy was nervously looking around at the room, hoping that it would be a figment of his memory once he returned home. He hoped it would despite the fact he knew that the poison of even that would ever follow him.

Eddward swallowed and reflected that everything had begun very innocently…


	2. Welcome to Trenton

Although Double-D had celebrated with the neighborhood children after facing Eddy's horrible older brother, he knew he would have to explain his "adventure" to his parents. They were not pleased. They were so distraught they didn't leave any sticky notes for him for three days.

Double-D had ridiculed himself in his mind for hurting his parents and being such a "bad seed". During those noteless nights he would curl up in his bed and weep atop his pillow. The daylight didn't halt his sadness, for he refused to go out and visit his friends, as he was feeling much too depressed and had also decided to punish himself.

However, when he woke up on the forth day, he found a small sticky note with a brochure attached to his headboard. He had eagerly grabbed it and hoped it would contain his parents' forgiving blessings on it.

Instead, it read, "Dear Eddward, in light of your actions, we have decided that perhaps you would fare nicely during the summer season at a school for higher learning."

Double-D looked at the note quizzically and then proceeded to take in the brochure. The name of the educational establishment was the "Trenton Summer School for Gifted Minds" and it looked to have very interesting classes as well as a traditional system that had been passed down from the Trenton generation. Although he knew he would greatly miss Eddy and Ed, Double-D decided to redeem himself and wrote a reply that indicated his intent to attend the school.

Three days later, he had organized his necessities and packed his luggage. Eddy and Ed waited for the bus with him, Eddy complaining about him "abandoning them" and Ed sobbing, becoming distracted by something, and then resuming.

"Why ya gotta go to this stupid school anyway?" Eddy shouted.

"Eddy I wish to please my parents. And if this is how I must do so, then so be it," Double-D explained as he dusted his suitcase with a handkerchief before he sat on it "Besides, I adore the prospect of being trained at such a marvelous school. Why, they even have advanced Physical Science!"

Eddy glowered at him and growled, "Yeah, well we're gonna have lots of fun without you! Me and Ed and the kids and…"

He stopped to turn around and wiped a tear forming in his eye.

Double-D's eyes widened and then watered as the truth began to swell in his mind. This was the first time they were actually going to be separated from each other. Everyday was usually spent in one another's company.

Double-D wiped both Eddy's and Ed's eyes and pointed out, "Please do not fret! I shall write letters every day. I know it will be difficult but I shall return before you have even noticed I am gone!"

"We shall be apart! No more chummy chums!" Ed mourned loudly.

"Ed, no! Of course not! You two will remain my dearest friends forever even when I am gone," Double-D exclaimed as he gathered both in a hug. "Please do not forget that!"

Eddy tried hard to pull away but Ed's iron grip kept him melded within the embrace. Eddy sighed and grumbled, "Yeah, well, school still stinks."

"Oh, Eddy, Ed! I shall miss you two a great deal!" Double-D cried as the bus pulled up next to the curb. "Oh! I suppose I must go now."

He half-heartedly carried his suitcase up to the vehicle and exclaimed again, "Please write as well!"

"Yeah, if Lumpy here don't eat the letter!" Eddy hollered at him.

Double-D sat at a window seat and waved at his friends until they were out of sight. He sighed and curled up with his knees to his face. For some strange reason, he felt sick.

He began to think of his friends and the years they had spent inseparably at each other's sides. Sleepovers, experiments, scams. After a while, however, their images in his mind became softer and more diluted. The color of their faces began to seep out and lightly stain the cement of their cul-de-sac

THUMP!

"Ooof!" Double-D's eyes flipped open like venetian blinds as soon as his head had made contact with the hard bus windows.

"Ohhhhhh", he mourned as he leaned back and held his head. When it finally stopped hurting, he checked his watch. It said three twenty-seven, informing him that he had slept for almost five hours.

"Oh, not only are my friends being strewn behind me but my internal clock as well!" he cried.

Double-D turned to look for some distraction out the window. He found it. The bus was on a street that was so near to the shoreline that it looked as though it was merely a mile off. He could see a few people sitting on the beach, enjoying their picnics or just the sun. To the right of them was a dock where a collection of visitors were trying to catch fish. The dock led to a wider walk way that had many little shops and restaurants for anyone to enjoy. Seabirds had also made up their minds to enjoy the beach as well, for they were sitting around the picnics and restaurants to gobble up any food that the people dropped.

"Oh my!" Double-D exclaimed. He immediately brought out his camera and took a few pictures. "When they are developed I must send them to Ed and Eddy. They will enjoy them greatly!"

Double-D put his camera down when he realized that there was no one there that he could of informed of that. He was talking to himself. Sighing, packed his camera back up and huddled up towards the seat for the rest of the hour-long ride.

He couldn't believe that this could have possibly been the school advertised in the brochure. From the description, he would have expected a large, gothic-era home. Instead, the bus stopped in front of a large white lighthouse. He looked up in it in surprise and took in the area around him. The lighthouse tower had bright red and blue stripes encircling it. The main building, attached to the tower, was very large and had been painted a crisp white with a sky blue trim to match the stripes. The whole building was surrounded by a lovely garden filled with many differently hued blossoms that were in their peak of blooming.

"Oh my," he breathed in ecstasy as he glanced at his lovely surroundings.

However, even though the school looked quite beautiful, his stomach began to feel queasy. Pushing it down as homesickness, Double-D grabbed his luggage and dragged it as quickly as he could toward the main entrance.

As soon as the door closed, he was enveloped in a curious silence that caused shivers to go down his spine in unnerving pulsations. To distract himself, Double-D began to observe the room and took in the rich mahogany flooring, the ornately carved stair railing, the gloriously crafted front desk.

"My! Such a marvelously adorned abode!" he exclaimed appreciatively as he made his way to the desk and gently pressed the service bell.

He sat on the velvet seat nearby and patiently waited for an educator to deliver him to his intellectual paradise…

"Excuse me?"

Double-D was stolen from his reverie by a soft, lilting voice.

"What? Oh my…" he murmured as he gazed at the owner of the voice, a lovely young girl who looked to be his age.

The girl's face was instantly spread with a light pink blush and she added apologetically, "I'm sorry, I just came in and I noticed that you weren't one of the students…"

"Oh, I just arrived. I was waiting for someone to assign me to the appropriate classes and such."

The girl frowned.

"I would've expected them to be right here when you arrived. I can't believe my parents could get such careless new teachers."

"You mean your parents are the proprietors of this establishment?" Double-D exclaimed in shock.

She smiled shyly and replied, "I'm being really rude. Yes, my parents have been running the school since my grandma died. They haven't been doing a really good job at it, though, hiring newer, younger teachers. They think it'll keep things "hipper" or something."

"That is perfectly fine," Double-D said "I have not been waiting for that long and…"

"No, it's not fine. They're supposed to be right here when there's a new student. How else are you supposed to know where to go? I'm sorry," she said suddenly "I'm being rude again, carrying on about all my problems and not helping you. Anyway, my name is Lorelei and, yes, my parents own this place even though they probably couldn't care less about it since they spend most of their time in the Hamptons on "vacation" and I'm also a student here."

She grinned as she added, "There I go again. You know you_ can _jump in with your name or something so I can stop making a jerk of myself."

"Well, um, my name is Eddward," he replied as, he too, began to blush uncontrollably "But everyone calls me Double-D because, you see, my names has two 'd's'."

"You look more like an 'Eddward' to me. It sounds more distinguished."

Sparing him anymore embarrassment, Lorelei took his hand and said, "Grab your bags, _I'll_ take you to your room."

Double-D meekly followed the lead of that soft hand and took all his luggage up three flights of stairs and down a hallway filled with doors.

"Here you go," Lorelei said as she left him in front of one of the doors, "The teachers may be bad but all the maids are great. The room's nice and clean. I'll see you later, Eddward."

Double-D smiled as he watched her leave, her pale golden hair bouncing along every time she took a step.

"How lovely she is!" he thought as he scrutinized his room. Lorelei had clearly spoken the truth as it was thoroughly well-kept and even when Double-D sat on the bed, he noticed it had the scent of fresh flowers.

Truth be told, he still had that same feeling of uneasiness but with the prospect of being in his classes with the a kind and admittedly lovely girl like Lorelei, perhaps it wouldn't be nearly as lonely as he thought it would be.

Double-D unpacked quickly, neatly placing his clothes in the beautiful antique dresser. After he lay back on the bed and, as he snuggled into the soft quilt, he thought of the light golden strands of hair that brushed the top of Lorelei's ice-blue eyes and the way she looked down and smiled when she was embarrassed. He was definitely looking forward to seeing her again.


	3. Kanker Anxiety

"Lemme go, Kanker!" Eddy screamed as Lee planted a kiss on his forehead.

"Not a chance Sweetpea," she laughed as she tightened her arms around him.

"Where's my Honey?" Marie demanded as she put her face directly in front of Ed, who was struggling to keep May's unwanted kisses at bay.

"NO!" the poor boy screamed "STOP, TOXIC TOE DIGGERS!"

Marie rolled her eyes and turned to Eddy.

"Well?" she said.

"Well, what?" he answered.

She leaned her head closer and shouted, "Where's Double-D?"

Eddy's hair blew back at the force of her voice and barely heard Lee comment, "Yeah, my sister needs her man too. So spill it or do I have to kiss it outta you?"

Eddy grimaced and hurriedly said, "Fine! Geez! His parents sent him to some stupid boarding school."

Marie stared at him and repeated, "Boarding school? Where!"

He looked at the ground to hide his sadness and muttered, "I don't know but his parents sent him there to stay for the whole summer so he ain't comin' back till school starts again."

Ed made no such efforts to hide his feelings and instead began to wail out nonsensical statements. May shrieked as his tears poured down and swept her away.

Marie stood there with a shocked look on her face and suddenly grabbed Eddy by his collar and hollered, "YOU'RE LYING! THIS IS JUST A STUPID TRICK!"

He angrily responded by yanked away and snapping, "No, I'm not lying, Stupid! Double-D is gone and he's gonna be gone for months! So get lost, Kankers!"

With that he stalked off, followed by a blubbering Ed. Lee glanced at her sister and pointed out optimistically, "Aw, don't worry, Marie, you can always get a temporary man until he comes back. Maybe after summer's done, you won't even want him back. How 'bout it?"

Marie didn't respond but turned and walked half-heartedly back to the trailer. May, still trying to dry herself off, looked at Lee questioningly. She shrugged and said, "She'll get over it. We just gotta find her a new man."

Lee paused and added, "May, let's give the Eds a break today. My poor baby's been through a lot."


	4. Whispers and Rumors

Eddward found that the teachers weren't nearly as bad as Lorelei had claimed they were. In fact, he found that they were extremely creative with their curriculum and often insisted that the class would express their own opinions on the subjects.

The classes were not very big, often consisting of less then ten students at a time and Double-D often wondered if this was the reason Lorelei seemed to dislike the teachers. Although the decline in students was not the fault of their instructors, he supposed she might very well feel resentful at them anyway.

Days were a pleasure to him for his mind was kept off missing his best friends by the intellectual stimulation present in every class. At mealtimes he often enjoyed listening to the little debates that the other students would engage in and sometimes would make an addition to the conversation. The times when they were free from their classes was usually spent in walking around the quaint little seaside town.

Nighttime, however, was a completely different story. When he was snuggled in the comfortably plush bed, feelings of loneliness would flood into his mind. He missed Ed and Eddy dreadfully and just thinking about them made his eyes tear up. Despite his heartache over his friends, however, there were other, more disturbing things that made nights almost impossible to sleep through.

His dreams were no longer filled with happy recollections of the day's events or even of being reunited with his companions but were now empty visions of darkness underlain with a strange nauseating feeling that nearly choked him when he woke up. Not that waking up was any relief to his feelings either, for just as his vision would start to clear, he would behold a figure of someone standing in front of his bed. Freezing with fright, he would not move for several minutes until he mustered up the courage to switch the light on. But then the entity would be gone

Double-D tried to rationalize these happenings by asserting that his eyes were just adjusting to the darkness, or he was still dreaming. This carried him through the day but when he began preparations to go to bed, he felt that deep in his heart he wasn't persuaded of either theories validity.

That was the main reason that tonight he was determined to keep his mind occupied with educational thoughts.

"After all," he murmured as he made his way to his room "Idle hands and minds are the devils playthings. Entertaining such thoughts indeed!"

"What thoughts?"

"Pardon? Oh, hello, Lorelei," Double-D greeted as he turned around and caught sight of his fellow classmate "I was merely talking to myself. And how are you?"

She smiled and replied, "I'm great. I just got a letter from my parents today!"

"Really? That's wonderful! How are they doing?" he asked enthusiastically.

She rolled her eyes and exclaimed in mock excitement, "Oh, they're off exploring the coast and figuring out new ways to turn orange for the summer!"

"Surely, they do not intend to!" he said.

"Oh, they don't" she responded breezily "But if they come back and are mistaken for a new breed of goldfish then I guess they got too much sun."

Double-D's chuckles were moved to loud laughter as she added, "I guess they could always work in Willy Wonka's place if it comes to that."

"Lorelei, that's terrible!" he cried.

"It's true, though!" she giggled "I think they care more about their faces then anything else."

When they were through their fit of laughter, Double-D wiped the tears forming in his eyes and pointed out, "I hope you do not tell your parents that."

"No, then they'll accuse me of being sassy and send me to Siberia or something."

"Well, it has been pleasant speaking to you, Lorelei. Goodnight."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

As he was walking away, Double-D acknowledged to himself that she sounded a bit forlorn as she bid him goodbye.

"Perhaps I should take the time to arrange a get together with her," he thought "I would enjoy getting to know her better."

As he walked to their bathroom, he noticed with chagrin that a group of classmates had congregated at the sinks. Under any other circumstances he wouldn't mind, but this particular group…

"Hey, Bucky, what are ya starin' at?" one crooned.

Double-D breathed in deeply and replied calmly, "I wasn't staring at anything, Jonathan, I was merely…"

"Yeah, well, you're wastin' air so just get on with it," the surprisingly small, bespectacled child retorted.

Affronted, Double-D began to brush his teeth and tried to ignore the conversation being held behind him.

"Hey, you! You too good to talk back?" an offended voice snapped.

Nearly choking on the foam in his mouth, he spat out the contents and politely replied, "No, I merely didn't hear you."

Peter Fakulman, the burly source of the voice repeated, "I _said_ did you hear what that freak Charlie Evans did?"

Well aware of that particular classmate and his unusual tendencies, he responded, "No, I don't think I have heard any news about him."

Peter's voice slicked into a whisper as he said, "He drew a picture in art class and it made a teacher faint! Then the principal came in and tore it up and screamed at him! I wonder how bad it was."

"It was indubitably a picture of violent content," remarked one freckled kid, whose hobby was to photograph road kill.

Jonathan laughed haughtily and declared, "It was probably a picture of him killing someone! Doesn't he look like he would do something like that?"

"Isn't it rather cruel to judge someone based on their appearance?"

Everyone in the room turned to Double-D and looked at him like he was insane. Or stupid.

"Well, it looks like we have our first victim," Jonathan smirked wickedly "How would you like to die, Bucky? Maybe he'll feed you to his pet snake! Or maybe, he'll lock you in the lighthouse tower and let you slowly starve to death."

He gave a mocking gesture of immense sadness and added, " If we dig up your bones on the beach we'll let your folks know."

The room broke out into raucous laughter as the victim of the would-be crime protested, "That's ridiculous! You are merely entertaining your own morbid thoughts!"

Peter tapped his chin and said, "Not really. This guy _is _a weirdo. I bunk across from his room and he has a picture of a grave on his wall. I mean, who puts that kind of stuff up?"

He huffed, "I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation for that image."

Jonathan snorted, "Yeah, his dad makes gravestones for a living. Listen, Bucky, when I first saw you, I thought you were pretty stupid but now I know that you're…"

All conversation stopped as the door swung open and the infamous young man entered the bathroom. As Charley made his way to the bathroom stall, Double-D swallowed hard. He would never admit it to anyone but he _was _slightly afraid of the lanky young man.

Besides the fact that he chose to don himself in the darkest clothes known to mankind, heavily decorated with sharp metal pieces, besides the fact that his long hair matched his clothes and always hung in front of his heavily darkened eyes, and _besides _the fact that anything that he wore had metal spikes protruding out of it, he just naturally looked intimidating. He never sat by anyone, hardly ever talked to anyone, and consistently had a crabby look on his made-up face.

Despite the fear in his belly, Double-D managed to squeak out a greeting as the young man sauntered over to the sink.

Charley peered out glumly from under his bangs and replied, "Yo."

Everyone in the bathroom held their breath as Double-D continued nervously, "Are you enjoying your stay?"

"Yup."

"Are you here only for the summer?"

"Yup."

"That is an interesting bracelet. Where were you able to obtain it?"

"A store," Charley grabbed a paper towel and added, "I gotta go."

The room was silent until he left then Peter said in awe, "Dude that was so awesome."

"It wasn't that awesome, "Jonathan snorted jealously.

"I was only trying to be nice," Double-D pointed out "After all, he might want friends as much as any of us."

"Yeah, right," Jonathan snapped "He wants to _kill _anyone who tries to be his friend. And maybe _you're_ just like him. That's probably why you keep sticking up for him! You're both planning to go on a murder spree!"

"That is not true!" he cried.

"Liar!" the boy shrieked "That's why you're not afraid of him! You guys are in cahoots with each other! What are ya going to do, burn the house down with everyone in it?"

Double-D felt his face warm with indignation as everyone in the room looked at him and began to murmur. Finally he responded quietly, "If all you are going to do is slander me, then I have nothing further to say."

He spun around and quickly fled the restroom. He was so upset and so anxious to get to his room, he ran right past Lorelei and forced himself to ignore her worried calls to him.


	5. Mirrored Terror

Double-D slammed the door when he reached his room and began to feel a sense of panic rush over him as he reviewed the extent of the accusations thrown at him. His face reddened as he cried out passionately, "I am not a murderer!"

The lazy chirping of the crickets was his only reply as he began to pace up and down the room in a frenzy.

Double-D was rather used to being left out of the more elite groups and had his share of criticisms from his cooler peers but this was something altogether different. The resulting stream of questions flooded every orifice of his mind as he struggled to decipher the boy's actions. Why would he accuse me of something so atrocious? Does he hate me? If so, why?

This continued for about an hour until he was simply too exhausted to think about it anymore and crawled into his bed. His last conscious thoughts were of how he had rushed past Lorelei without even answering her. How rude, he thought as his eyelids began to slide closed.

When he opened his eyes, he was in his classroom. How strange, he thought as he looked down at the textbook in front of him.

The pages were filled with strange, surreal art that floated out of the book and entangled themselves in the textures in the floor and ceiling. One of the students, a fellow with a strong nose and long chin, tripped over the escaped art.

The teacher, whose back was turned toward the class, seemingly shook her head and warbled something as she struck the blackboard with her pointer. Double-D glanced up and noticed that she was motioning to a noose hanging in front of the board. She warbled again and this time, Charley, or at least a rather blurry Charley, got up and began to walk to the front of the classroom, dragging his chair along with him. He put the chair below the noose, climbed up and began to put his neck through the rope.

"Wait!" Double-D cried "Stop it! What are you doing?"

He ran to the front of the classroom and yanked the teacher's sleeve desperately.

She turned around to reveal a face with a sweet-looking mouth, golden hair cascading past her cheeks, and…no eyes. Her face broke into a gruesomely evil smile as she took hold of the lever coming out of her desk.

Double-D woke himself up screaming. Sweat trickled down his nose as he hurriedly turned on the light and looked around in a panic and promptly fell out of his bed. He grabbed the edge of the nightstand and began to force himself to breathe slowly. After a few minutes, he rubbed all the sweat off his forehead and walked over to his desk reasoning that writing a letter to Eddy and Ed would calm him down.

He sat there with the full intention of doing just that but instead found himself staring at his reflection in the mirror. What an odd piece of furniture, he thought, noting that the mirror wasn't actually attached to the desk but was connected to the wall. Was it his imagination or was he hearing something tapping on the other side?

He put his ear on in and listened. Yes, there was something hitting the other side of the mirror but what could it be? Double-D thought of the possibilities and settled that it must be a bird trapped in the house. Poor thing, he thought sympathetically, it must be afraid to be in that crevice. With this in mind, he decided that it was entirely possible to remove the mirror by screwing it from the wall and resolutely opened his window so the animal could get out.

After taking a screwdriver from under his hat, he set to work loosening the screws. While he was working on the second of the top ones, though, he became aware of a dead weight pushing against the mirror.

"What on earth could that be?" he murmured "Perhaps the animal is larger then I anticipated."

Whatever it was, as soon as the screw was free of the wall, Double-D had to rush out of the way to avoid being smashed by it flying out of the wall. The mirror shattered as the object crashed to the ground.

Double-D coughed as dust spread through the air, tried to take a look at it, and stopped. He uneasily waved away the debris floating around, rationalizing that it must be the reason his eyes were playing tricks on him. The dust did finally dissipate but as he stood over the object lying on the mirror, he sickly acknowledged that his vision had been perfectly fine.

He breathed in sharply and cried out as he fully took in the sight of Jonathan Duall's lifeless body sprawled out on the carpet.


End file.
